Hearts of Living Destiny
by PhantomofDeath99
Summary: In their world the new Earth, no one's heart beats. There was no sound, no pulse. There was no love, no soul mates. But when he met her everything changed, his eyes were opened and two scarred teens found that their strength and destiny were in each other. "Kim," he cooed, cupping her teary face in his hands, "you're the reason I'm still here...the reason my heart beats."Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I'm having a bit of writer's block with my other story, and this came to me, hit me in the face practically screaming to be written...and well, who was I to refuse? So, as usual, I got this idea in math's class. I don't do anything really, just listen to my teacher with my subconscious while I write out ideas for my future stories and one shots. And I thought, you know, different is good. So here it is...**

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Prologue

In the new world, Earth, things had changed. Hence the term, _**new**__ world_.

Love had disappeared, being misinterpreted and tainted with foul means. People who loved were considered idiots, outcasts who believed they felt something unreal. They were thought to believe in myths, because love was never experienced or seen. There was no love in this world. The same way there were no heart beats.

Everyone's heart was still, their life, their will to live, their destiny, their future, their personality, everything being breathed into them by the magic of a planet, nothing else. There was no pulse, no skipping a beat, there was nothing. Just a dying, cold heart that lay in an empty chest. People in this world were incomplete, missing an essential part of themselves, but no one ever knew what. Rumour had it that once you found your soul mate, your heart would beat again and your hole would be fixed. But it was just that, a rumour. No one had experienced it because soul mates didn't exist…

Until one pair found each other….

Until two hearts felt the magic's call...

Until Earth decided that love needed to be found...

Until two teens, two wounded and broken teens, found each other...

Until they realized that the belief, or lack thereof, in love needed to be changed, and destiny needed to be believed...


	2. Chapter 2

**Sup Peeps! How's it going? Anyway, so I've worked out an idea for a writing schedule. My Kick stories, I'll try and upload during the week. I type them on my laptop so it's cool. Any of my Kick followers who've read my W.I.T.C.H story, I hand write that first and then type it up and then edit it twice and ****_then_**** post it, so it takes a while, but I was thinking I'll write most of the chapters during the weekend and then post it during the week as well. So thanks for those few people who've already favourited and followed and reviewed this story. I appreciate it. Here we go...**

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_She reached out, tenderly slipping her hand into his and lacing their fingers together. "Jackie, you have no idea how much I—" she gasped and he quickly glanced over his shoulders to find there was nothing there. "What? How much you wh—" His question was cut off as she smothered it with her lips, pressing them to his with fire licking each nerve. He'd never felt this way, but then again, he doubted anyone had. Love didn't exist, hearts didn't beat, yet he could feel his skipping a beat as he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back and carding through her blonde locks with his fingers. He felt like he was high, flying in the clouds, and he didn't want it to end. His fingers glided up and down the pale silk of the side of her white dress until he touched something sticky. He ignored it at first, continuing to allow her to kiss him senseless before he realized it was warm. Warm and sticky….He pulled away from her, finding her smiling shyly at him before ounce by ounce, it disappeared and she collapsed. His heart plummeted, and the air felt like it was being sucked out of his lungs. He shook her, begging her to stay with him as he stared at her, tears climbing into his eyes and making their great escape down his cheeks. "Kim! Kim! Please…don't go—Please—"_

Jack flashed up, feeling his shock as he inhaled deeply. His head ached as he sat up. He was on the floor again after yet another dream gone wrong. He used to scream when it happened and his pissed off parents would shake him awake, slap some sense into him, quite literally, and wander off back to bed, so he'd learned to control his reaction. They weren't his real parents though and he knew that even if it wasn't real, his real parents would've loved him and treated him as their son, not some orphaned servant they'd supposedly _saved_. Jack frowned; he would've been safer on the streets.

Sighing, he peeled himself off the floor and walked over to his mirror. He was only in a pair of boxers and you could clearly see the well-defined muscles he possessed as well as the well-defined scars. After every nightmare, he would wake up with a new one, where hers had been. He didn't even remember much about the dream, or what her name was, just that she always got hurt and he always felt guilty. Wherever she was hurt, he woke up to find the same mark on him just on the opposite side. He had been reading over it, looking for information in books but all it gave him was some Yin and Yang crap from centuries ago. He didn't believe that. Soul mates were as dead and mysterious as every person's un-beating heart. They didn't exist. Or so he thought…

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

Kim collapsed on to the ground from the force of the strike, whimpering. Her ribs hurt brutally as she used the stick to raise herself from the grungy floor. Her father was teaching her self-defence and martial arts. Or so he claimed. Kim knew it was just an excuse to beat her, to hurt her. She beat him a few times, or got close to it too many times. His ego bruised too much and then her body bruised as much as it did. Her head was still thumping from falling off of her bed that morning when she woke up and she couldn't concentrate properly.

_Thwack! Thud!_ She groaned, picking herself up again only for her father, Tom, to grip the front of her shirt, dragging her closer as he spat, "Get your airhead into your training, ass." He snapped the stick she was holding over his knee as she crumpled to the ground from the lack of support, still holding her ribs. He laughed at her wickedly, as if she'd done something funny and walked off abandoning her. If anything, she hated her father. He wasn't even a real parent, just a man who helped her mom get pregnant. Nothing more. He hadn't even helped raise her or look after her mother once she'd found out about being pregnant with Kim, he'd just bolted and left her mother alone. Then once she died, Kim had been sent to live with him. He'd hated her from the moment she arrived and beat her with 'training'. But he was right about her being out of it. Her thoughts were consumed with the brunette boy from her dreams and her lips still buzzed from his kiss, her skin on fire from his touch. Even if it was a dream, it was a pretty real one. So real in fact, that she'd sworn the moment she woke up, as impossible as it was, her heart had been beating.

Kim had the same dreams every night. She'd appear in a random place, with barely any scenery and then he'd be there in front of her. She'd creep up behind him, hug him around the waist and tease him. She'd be laughing and smiling and then she'd go to tell him how she felt, how she _knew_ she felt and then, she'd stop. Before she'd say anything, she'd see a figure moving. A tall, bulky shadowed figure that moved behind him. The brunette boy would glance back in concern and then egg her to continue when he saw nothing. Instead of answering, she'd crash her lips on to his, kissing him intensely as he ran his hands through her hair and up and down her dress. And then she'd die. It was the same every time. She'd kiss him and die. It wasn't the kiss of death, she knew that. But if it was, she wouldn't mind having it for real if it could make her feel this way. The curious thing was, unlike her other dreams, she always remembered these ones. She remembered every detail, every touch, every feeling, every word and whisper and she never lost it. It stayed stored in the cold and cavernous regions of her chest where his name was written across the cold muscle of her heart, warming them slightly and giving her some semblance of faith, of the love that she so strongly believed in. The love that she hoped her Jackie believed in.

No matter what happened, Kim had always believed in love and she always would. She knew that the Earth and its magic gave people life and a destiny and once that was achieved they would move on to a new destiny or wither away, like her mother. Her mother's destiny was to have Kim and then die. While her father's was to be a coward who beat his child until karma got to him. Love wouldn't be for everyone, only a lucky few who looked hard enough to find it and Kim hoped she'd be one of the lucky ones.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang and a honk and she quickly dashed inside. Her ribs still hurt and she was no doubt starting to bruise again, but the curiosity got the better of her and she ran inside anyway. The glass of the windows was smashed and the door was destroyed, lying in shards on the ground and Kim quickly grabbed the baseball bat from the kitchen. She cringed as she held the handle where her father had, looking at her own dried blood on the bat. But she steeled her nerves, raising the bat to swing when needed. The world had changed a lot since magic was discovered, but not so much that this would be normal. "Halt!" A voice bellowed and she quickly swung, spinning around and knocking a man in a black uniform clean on to his back. She shrieked, poking him with the bat as he lay still until he wheezed and flashed an ID at her. Agent Walker?

"Who the frick are you?" "Can't you read?" She rolled her eyes. Of course she could read. Everybody could read. "I mean why the frick are you here? Who are you as in _who_ are you? I don't exactly know every flippin' person that breaks down my front door!" He chuckled slightly, standing up from the ground, straightening his suit and grinning. He had short black hair and black shades to match. She couldn't see his eyes but she suspected they were blue. "Nice swing, Kim." Her eyes widened almost comically as he laughed again. She didn't mind the sound, it felt familiar but he creeped her out. How the frick did he even know her name? _"Who are you?"_ He frowned slightly, like he was offended but she could tell he was joking. He crossed his arms over his chest, causing her to cock an eyebrow."And here I thought you'd know your uncle when you saw him."

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**Okay people, there's your cliffhanger. God I love those, I don't think I've ever written a cliffhanger. Anyway, tune in to the next chapter when I post it? Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

Jack stared at the clock in his school. He hated the fact that he still had to go to this hell hole. It sucked. Glaring down at his page furiously, he frowned as he noted he hadn't written down a single flipping thing. The test sheet in front of him was blank and his dyslexia and horrible learning disabilities were starting to irritate him. The bell rang and his whole class jumped out of their seats, abandoning their tests on their teacher, Mr Munroe's desk. Jack took his time, the more time left between him and seeing that disappointed look, the better. "Jackson," his teacher tutted, staring at him. He frowned. Jack used to be good in school. The dyslexia and learning disabilities just appeared all of a sudden, out of nowhere and he'd been down the river without a paddle ever since. "I tried sir, but I just couldn't do it." Mr Munroe nodded sympathetically before looking out the door. "I'd run Jack. I saw you put that donkey into the principal's office. He's still mad enough about the pink hair dye, but he'll be _pissed off_ when he finds the donkey." The cocky brunette smirked as he threw a glance to the door. "I thought he'd like to meet another ass like himself."

Kim gaped as she studied the massive science lab in her new room. Her uncle, on her mother's side, she'd discovered, had turned out to be a spy for a top secret agency, S.O.K.K.O. The agency was named after the founder, a young teenaged girl genius, Saoirse, and her best friend nicknamed the Hoffinator, a combination of her last name and terminator, who gave Saoirse the name Sokko. **(A/N True story. My football and camogie coach calls me the Hoffinator and I nicknamed my friend Saoirse, Sokko, lol)** Apparently, the agency was also part of an undercover investigation. They were researching love and wanted Kim to be a test subject. Many teens were being tested including those older and younger than her, but Kim was the only sixteen year old. The most common occurrence of love, was in one's dreams, when desires, emotions, thoughts and personal experiences combined to create the vivid imagery that was dreams. Even though dreams usually only lasted 11 seconds **(A/N also true)** it was proven in S.O.K.K.O's research, that certain age groups of teens experienced longer dreams, dreams that lasted as long as the person was unconscious.

"Well Kim? What do you think?" Her uncle chuckled as she gestured to the bed in the middle of the lab. There were a bunch of random machines surrounding it and it gave her the creeps. "It's for when you sleep. To monitor your brain, your heart and your emotional field so we can test you. The agency wants everyone to be able to experience love, so if we can find two people that really love, or even one person, then we have a chance at finding a serum to create it." Kim took bitter notice of the fact that he left out anything about soul mates. Didn't he want to find those too? "We want to find soul mates, but it's rather difficult as there are 7.7 billion people on Earth. But one of our lead scientists, Professor Milton Krupnick, has been working on not only creating the serum, but using the subject's love to connect it to another heart. That way, if we can't find soul mates…we can create them."

**Sorry it's short. Hope you like it though. I've been having a bunch of Kick ideas and I have a question… well…it's a poll on my profile for a new story. 1 vote each, my peeps! In order of votes, which ever gets the most, I'll create now, the others can be created later or whatever. Thanks for all the people who followed, favourited, and reviewed. Till next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Lying on the freezing cold 'bed' (really a table with a few bed sheets, blankets and a worn down mattress), Kim felt like a complete and utter idiot. Different wires and gizmos and gadgets went in and out of her skin while she herself was strapped down to the table. Her arms were pinned by two heavy steal cuffs, her feet held by the same while her body was held in place by a metal bar that pressed her to the table. Her 'bed' would be tucked into a machine while she slept, basically like a super CT scanner for dream monitoring and emotional removal. She had a pretty good idea now, that her uncle was beyond mental. After much conversing, well...button pushing on her behalf, she'd been told, (yelled at), that once they isolated the emotion, love, and they made the serum, the donator of the emotion (Kim) would have the emotion ripped from her. She would be incapable of loving. In order to make the serum, they needed to remove the ability to love so they could create a stem for the emotion to be taken from repeatedly. Because apparently it wasn't humane to repeatedly tie her to a table, stab needles into her and shove her into a machine so they could extract her emotions, but it _was_ humane to completely rip her feelings from her and make her incapable of using them again.

She sighed, trying to calm herself as Professor Krupnick entered the room with a rather...intimidatingly _large_ needle. It was the size of her arm, and she was not looking forward to being stabbed with it. "So, Milty, how's this going to work?" She grinned slightly, keeping up her facade of being completely calm. It was essential that she looked strong and unfazed. She didn't know why, but she knew that it was. "Well, Kim, this isn't going to be jabbed into your arm if that's what you're wondering. No, this is going to be attached to a drip tube, it'll provide the anaesthetic to keep you unconscious." She paled. "I thought I was just going to be sleeping." "You will be...but once you start waking up, we'll administer the anaesthetic to keep you in your dreaming state so that then, we can focus on finding the core of your emotions. It'll allow us time to pinpoint the cause of 'love' and then, we can track the cause and retrieve it." What? Retrieve..."What do you mean 'retrieve' it?" "I mean, we're not extracting your emotions while your asleep. They'd be too weak to make a serum from them. No, we're going to find the cause of 'love' in your being and then go get it. Then we'll keep you around it, and when you're happiness and emotional strength reach their peak, and you've completely surrendered to 'love', we'll extract it from you." "Oh..." Oh shit!

Milton quickly grabbed the open end of one of the many tubes going into Kim's body, and hooked the overly-large needle up to it, laying the needle on a table beside him. He felt bad about destroying her ability to love, but she'd love before she lost it and as the saying goes, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. "Ready Kim?" She sighed heavily as he wheeled the bed closer to the machine. He was the only doctor allowed examine the patients, or perform the procedure. A gift, Kim supposed. She'd always thought being around doctors was creepy, so having one rather than the ten recommended, was a gift. "As ready as I'll ever be," she retorted before a screen was pulled over her eyes as she was pushed into a gas filled chamber. She coughed, feeling it contract her lungs as her vision got blurry. What the- Her eyes closed as her mind faded to black and she drifted to sleep...

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

Jack was perched in a tree, sitting along the branches as he looked out over the lake. He was shirtless, examining the many bruises, scars and tattooes that covered his torso. He felt a little fuzzy at school, so he did what he did best. He ditched. School wasn't a good place for him, he never understood it or its purpose. There were too many fake people, too many tests to challenge their intelligence, too many liars and evil people who would never understand others or why they were different. He didn't like it there.

He wasn't always alone though it may seem like he was. Wherever he went, he had the whispers of the wind as company, the faded faces of dreams and memories. Yes, it was a sad existence, but one he was perfectly content with. Although sometimes, he wished, longed for human company. He longed for that perfect girl, the one he'd love forever to just appear, brought to his side solely so that he could be happy. He may not always believe in love, but he believed that the world, that magic had a plan for him that involved it. Sighing, he toyed with one of the many budding blossoms on the old tree. His perfect girl would love this place.

He had mapped out everything she would like and dislike, every place she'd want to go to, every person she'd want to meet, everything she'd want to do; he knew it all. And he knew, that she would want to sit on this tree branch, in between his legs while he hugged her close. She would fiddle with the blossoms, pick flowers and twirl them in between her fingers, smiling and laughing as he hummed into her ear, brushing blonde curls away from her neck so he could kiss her. Yes, his ideal girl, his perfect girl, was blonde. But not stupid, no. She would be intelligent, and gorgeous, a natural beauty who would need him to reassure her of how beautiful she really was. She would be confident yet shy, sweet yet harsh, defensive yet open. She would be the better version of himself as a girl, a perfect half of him. Like a reflection. **(Soz, I was listening to Mirrors by Justin Timberlake)** She would be perfect. Or at least, to him she would be.

Sighing again, he leaned his head back against the tree trunk, feeling his vision go slightly blurry as his heart tugged in his chest. He shut his eyes, just for a moment as the darkness overwhelmed his sight, his mind going blank. The last thing he remembered before completely going unconscious...was falling from the branch and voices...he remembered voices and thundering feet..."There he is! Get him before he falls!" _Thud!_

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

_She looked around the darkness, feeling it underneath her fingers like fog, soft and whispy. She was sitting on the ground, waiting. For what she didn't know, but she knew she was waiting. It felt like forever, like eternity was slowly passing by as she sat. "If beauty were time, then surely, you'd be eternity." Her face lights up with a blush, a gentle smile washing her eyes until they shone. He approaches, standing behind her as she looks down, studying the hem of her white dress. It's always white, it seems. The lace trim weaves in between her fingers as she listens to him, just breathing behind her before he sits down, his legs on either side of her as he wraps his arms around her waist, hugging her to him._

"Jack," she mutters as Milton looks up. He takes account of it, quickly jotting it down in his notes as he notices, she's still not awake.

_He brushes her long curls away from her neck, leaning his head there as his lips caress her skin, whispering his promises to her. He doesn't want to lose her, to have her die. To have nasty scars like he does. He wants to protect her, and he promises to. He promises her the moon, the sun and the stars, all of which he tells her, don't shine half as brightly as her eyes. She laughs, resting her head against his shoulder as he kisses her neck, working his way down until he can rest his head in the crook of her neck. _

"Kimmy," the boy mumbles as the guards glance at him from the rearview mirror of the car. They're almost there, almost at S.O.K.K.O.

_"Don't go," she pleads. Her eyes are closed, and he knows instantly it's to hold back her tears. He doesn't want to leave, but he can feel the pull of his heart, the tug in his gut telling him it's nearly time. "I won't." She sighs, relief evident in its tone as she intertwines her hands with his, resting them both around her waist as she turns her head to face him. "You'll forget me," she mutters, her eyes slowly opening to reveal the most hypnotising brown he's ever seen as he pecks her head softly, holding himself there. "I won't...even if I do, my heart won't." She smiles, a soft and sad tug of her lips as she snuggles into him, his grip on her tightening. "We'll get married someday." He feels her gently chuckle against his chest before she shakes her head. "No we won't." He grins, not letting her dwell on him leaving soon as he takes her denial in stride. "It'll be a very emotional wedding, even the cake will be in tiers."_

She laughs slightly, it's breathy but it piques Milton's interest. "What's so funny, hmm?" he mumbles, jotting it down in his notes again before starting a new scan. It quickly takes in her body's reaction to whatever is in her dream and the result causes Milton to grin. "Congratulations Kimberly, you're in love."

_He places a chaste kiss to her lips, pulling her to standing until she's chest to chest with him. "Please don't." she whispers, her voice completely overrun by pain as she closes her eyes. Snow drops of tears run down her cheeks, lightly brushed away by his thumbs as he takes her face in his hands. He shakes his head, pressing his forehead against hers as she opens her eyes, revealing the mass of waves that cover the brown irises he loves so much. "I have to, Kimmy...but I'll remember." It's her turn to shake her head as she refuses to believe him. He won't remember her. He never has. Whenever he wakes up, he never remembers. But she does. She always does. "Yes I will, Kimmy...but don't be too surprised how you see me..." She stares at him, confusion etching into her expression as he steps away from her. She quickly grasps his hand, latching on to it like a life line as she pulls him into her. Her eyes convey her question, 'what do you mean?' "Every love has it's consequences." She blushes, looking down at her bare feet. "Is that what we have? Love?" He nods, pulling her closer until there's no space between them. Lips locked, eyes closed, hands intertwined and chests pressed to each other. A single thump thrums between them as they pull away, echoing through the darkness as a wave of light. Her eyes widen with a childish wonder, a glow lighting them up. "What was that?"_

The monitor flashes as a wave of red covers it, followed by two green bleeps and a zig zag curving the dead line. Milton gasps, staring at it wide eyed. "No...it can't be..." he mutters, hammering on his computer before glancing over at the heart monitor beside Kim. The bump in the line is still there, running off the screen as he gapes, staring in astonishment. "It's a heartbeat."

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**So, there you have it. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I got distracted and then my laptop got broken, so I'm typing this from my Dad's one. (I go to his house every other weekend). But, it looks like Jack and Kim are going to meet up soon. Probably the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I'll post this more often if I can. ~The Phantom!**


	5. Chapter 5

His eyes blurred into focus as he stared into the bright lights above his head. Different machines surrounded him and he could feel his head throbbing as he pushed himself to sit. Where the frick was he? Looking around, Jack surveyed every inch of the room, its pure white walls and metal tables, its emptiness until he found it. A door. Slowly, he slid towards the edge of the table he was lying on, focusing on stopping the dizziness that overwhelmed him. He felt as empty as the room, like there was something missing as his legs dangled over the table, his hands tightly gripping the edge before he moved them, intertwined his fingers together and placed them on his lap. The feeling of emptiness grew stronger as something struck his head, slashed into his memory, his subconscious and caused images to rush free...

_...he sits down, his legs on either side of her as he wraps his arms around her waist, hugging her to him..._

The girl. There was a girl with long, perfectly curled blonde hair...and beautiful, brown eyes...And he'd held her. He'd hugged her. No...he'd done more than that...

_...Lips locked, eyes closed, hands intertwined and chests pressed to each other..._

He'd kissed her. And...there was so much _more_! He felt something...something new, different...that built up in his chest at every touch, every kiss. Shaking his head, (which soon proved a horrible idea), he stood up, taking in his appearance as he trudged towards the door. He was shirtless...but he wasn't too sure if he was comfortable with that fact considering someone had taken him here, (well, _dragged_ is the more appropriate phrasing). Did they like seeing him shirtless and so they'd decided not to give him a shirt? Because they apparently didn't like his jeans and decided to change them to white cotton three-quarter length draw string trousers. Shrugging it off, he pulled on the door handle, surprised when it opened easily. Maybe the people here didn't want to keep him hostage...

His eyes widened as he took in the similar room, noticing the large machine instantly as the only difference. He hadn't been in one of those. His eyes examined it thoroughly as he slowly and cautiously stepped towards it, marking each step with a quick pause. "What the hell...?" he whispered, stopping as he glanced around the room. There were several varities of wires and tubes that led into the machine as well as several silver tables that lined it, coated with different monitors, equipment and...needles. He shivered, twitching slightly before he stepped closer and identified one of the most odd things he'd ever seen...quite an exquisite piece of extinct technology that was rendered completely useless in this time frame; a heart monitor.

He would've laughed, thrown his head back and just laughed when he saw it. But he didn't. The second he saw it, his heart was tugged harshly and he gripped the nearest table, feeling his finger get sliced open by an abandoned needle. Blood dripped down the pointed metal of the nib as he cursed, quickly yanking it out of his finger and slowly approaching the machine again. If he was lucky, there'd be a bed or something nearby. Stumbling, he failed to see how his hand slipped down the table, knocking the syringe of and causing the tube to become disconnected it...The needle for the anaesthetic was separated...

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

The machine whirred, the girl inside being released from the clutches of her drug induced sleep. She opened her eyes, feeling a heavy weight lift from her as she did so only to be replaced with heavy panic. It was dark. So very, very dark and she couldn't see anything. She tried to move, only to find she was restrained. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! What the fudge was she supposed to do now? She continued squirming, muttering a string of curses under her breath as she did so. She needed to get out. It was so small and cramped, and dark and she was claustrophobic, so obviously, this wasn't the best placed to be trapped in. If Jack were in here with her...then maybe it wouldn't be _as_ bad...

Her 'bed' was suddenly yanked out of the machine, the bright lights burning her eyes as someone gasped. She squinted, blinking as she looked at them. Whoever it was...they were tall, and damn good looking and- "Kimmy?" Her eyes widened comically, practically popping out of her skull as she gasped. "Ja-Jackie? Jack? But-but that's not possible-" Two warm lips quickly pressed against hers as her heart thrummed and hammered wildly, causing a grin to spread across her face as she happily kissed him back. She pulled herself to sit up, bringing her arms to wrap around him as she put as much force into the kiss as possible when a thought occurred to her...Wasn't she tied down? Kim quickly pulled away, instantly regretting it but deciding not to give two shits as she stared at the cuffs that had once held her in place. They were bent out of shape, broken, almost like a hammer had attacked them, pushed them until they opened and released her. "Kimmy.." Jack muttered, tucking another blonde lock behind her ear, just as he did in so many of her dreams...so many of _their_ dreams.

_Kimmy_. He just called her, _Kimmy! _She stared at him for a moment, unsure if he wasn't messing with her. _'Well Kim, how on earth could he mess with you by calling you Kimmy if he didn't remember? Huh? Jesus child, so blonde!' _She mentally frowned. Her own conscience just called her blonde. How much worse could it get? 'Jesus, my ass! I got drugged! Forgive me for being a little slow!'

Jack smirked at her, observing her pout with adoring eyes. God, she was gorgeous. No! She was _perfect!_ He placed two fingers under her chin, directing her head up as she stared at him, clearly confuzzled. **(A/N; For all of you who don't know it, it's a combination of 'confused' and 'puzzled'. My friend Rockie made it up, she loves that word.) **"What's with all the frowning, Kimmy? You're favourite guy is here!" Kim nodded, not bothered to deny it as she took in his appearance completely. Tattoos and scars covered his torso, each one appearing as a fatal wound that should've killed him. Should've, but it obviously didn't.

_"...don't be too surprised of how you see me..."_ Was this what he meant? Don't be surprised of all his scars? His tattoos? "What happened.." "Every love has it's consequences." he quoted, distracting her with a grin. He liked remembering their dreams. And he could clearly see that she enjoyed his rememberance too as she replied, "Is that what we have? Love?" He brought her closer, sliding her to the edge of the table so he could stand in between her legs as he nodded, ready to answer when a new voice intervened, "Yes my dear. You have a love that shall fill the world." The couple looked towards the door, ready to murder whoever interrupted their moment but calmed, (well...they didn't kill them but they weren't exactly calmed...they were slightly less murderous), once they saw who it was. Jack tensed, pulling Kim off the table so she could stand behind him as he glared daggers at the man. "Jackson." The man greeted. "Asshole. How's it going?" Just as he retorted, his vision blurred again. His head felt fuzzy and he immediately recognised the familiar sensation as the effects of anaesthetic...shit! His finger! He felt two hands wrap around him, supporting him as he struggled to stand. "Well, from the looks of things Jackson," the man grinned, right as Jack fell on to the table, Kim fixing him up there, her panicked voice ringing through his ears as she called his name, "I'd say things are going down."


	6. Chapter 6

**OH MY FREAKING GOD! I typed this out earlier, I was getting to the cliff hanger and the laptop fucking died! IT JUST TURNED OFF! AND ALL OF MY PROGRESS GOT...GOT KILLED!...Okay...so I'm calmer now, and breathing and thanking you for all of your reviews. **

Kim sat stiffly in the chair, her knees hugged to her chest as she glared daggers at the man behind the desk. He made her uncomfortable and he still hadn't introduced himself. He was just there and studying her and it irritated her. Not only that, but it scared her. If Jack was so defensive of her and angry with him, then why should she trust him. "Now, now, Kim. Glaring is unbefitting for a young lady." "Assholery is unbefitting for an old man." She retorted. He wasn't that old, he looked around his late thirties to his early forties. His short hair was spiked and he seemed quite mature...well, he laughed like an evil eight year old so his maturity was yet to be judged. So, in conclusion, so far, he was a very annoying, irritating man, of a reasonably old age with spiked hair and a cruel personality who wouldn't let her see Jack. "Why won't you let me see Jack?" She whispered. Her voice sounded weak, pathetic, something she detested, but the man's expression softened in reply, his eyes holding some sympathy in them, so maybe showing weakness was what she needed to do instead of showing strength like she needed to before. "Why do you want to see Jack? Hmm? Why is it so important that you see him? What reason do you have?"

Her incredulous, 'are you fucking stupid?' expression burned into his memory as she stood up, throwing her arms out in exasperation as she yelled, "I fucking love him! What other reason do I need?" He stood as well, slamming his open hands on to the table as he enquired, "How do you know what love is? You've never felt love, no one has! What makes you so sure what you feel is love? You don't know what love is! Nobody does! How do you know that we didn't slip you something, inject some serum or hormone into you that makes you feel different, special, around certain types of people? Huh? You don't do you? No! So how would you know that you love Jack?" Kim faltered, hesitating in her answer. She didn't know, did she? Nobody had felt love before, he was right. But she knew that what she felt was love, right? "I..." _'Hold the phone, Kimmers,' _her mind nudged,_ 'Why is he so dead set against you believing in love if he's from S.O.K.K.O?'_ She agreed. Why would he be so against her feeling love? Why would he try to make her doubt her feelings if he was really from the agency trying to make her happy so they could rip away her feelings? "Who are you?" She enquired, her voice holding determination as he nodded. Maybe she wasn't as stupid as he thought. "If you were really from S.O.K.K.O, you'd be trying to make me happy and believe in love. But you're not, which means you're not from the agency, so where are you from?" Yep, definitely not as stupid as he thought.

"My name," he gestured for her to take a seat, which she refused. She wasn't going to trust this looper. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest before he continued, ignoring her refusal to sit, "My name is Rudy and I am from the Wasabi Institute-" "Wasabi? As in the spice sauce thingy?" she chuckled. "No! Wasabi as in Bobby Wasabi, the CEO and founder of the Wasabi Institute, an agency dedicated to finding and _preserving_ love." Kim scoffed. As if she was going to fall for the same line twice. "Yeah right, that's what my uncle told me before-" She stopped and silence filled the room. Was she really going to tell some wacked up loon who the guy she loved despised about her whole trip to S.O.K.K.O? "Before what?" "Before my abusive father, who had just finished beating me BTW, went completely AWOL and I was strapped into a machine waiting for my feelings to be sucked out!" Okay then, apparently the answer was yes. Because it's a great idea to trust the short evil man working for a stupidly named company dedicated to stealing your emotions.

Rudy shrugged his shoulders, walking around the desk only to sit on it in front of Kim. He remained silent for a few moments, just studying her and ensuring that he thoroughly creeped her out before he stated, "That's a nice dress. White is very you." "What?" Kim looked down only to find that she was in fact, wearing a white dress that stopped just at her knees. "But...I wasn't-I wasn't wearing this before..." She studied it herself. It was the same dress from her dreams. The same gorgeous dress that Jack loved her wearing. But how the fuck did she get into it? "Where'd you get it?" "I...I don't know..." More importantly, why the hell did he want to know? What was he? An ex-costumes designer who flunked out of clown college? Rudy nodded, seemingly okay with that answer as he stood up again, allowing Kim the chance to choose for herself to sit down. "Well, Kim, I hope you like it here." "What do you mean?" "You'll be here for a while, Kim. Jack will be here too, don't worry." Jack..."Can I see him?" Rudy nodded again and Kim felt her hopes shoot up before he shook his head. "Maybe in a little while, sport." He turned back to face her, studying again as he had a lot in the past half hour she was in the office. "That's a very interesting dress, Kim." Again? Really? Again with the dress? What was so interesting about it? She really wanted to know because quite frankly it was bugging her that he'd take such an interest in her clothes. "What's so interesting?"

Rudy rose from his perch on the desk, circling her seat until he stood behind her. He tugged on the shoulder of the dress, yanking it down until he could see the skin of her shoulder. "Very interesting indeed." "What?" "Look." He instructed as Kim frowned. "I can't exactly fucking see my shoulder now, can I?" Rudy sighed, frustrated with the blonde girl as he grabbed her arm, dragging her to the wall. Her eyes widened in fear, thinking that he'd surely hurt her for patronising him when he stopped abruptly. He lifted a fist and violently slammed it into the wall, repeating the action until the wall opened up to reveal a kind of closet/dressing room. It was lined with racks of clothes and the walls were coated with..._mirrors._ Of course. Rudy shoved her forward, walking behind her as he gestured to her shoulder with his hand. "Look." he repeated.

Kim stared at her shoulder in shock, slowly coming to the realization that it wasn't the shoulder of the dress that was interesting, it was _her_ shoulder. Gulping, she swallowed the massive lump in her throat as she turned to look at him. "What are they?" "They're tallies." Tallies? Like...tally marks? Urgh! MATH! "Why are they there? What are they for?" "They tell you how long you've been at S.O.K.K.O." Oh. That's not too bad. The feeling of fear quickly died down, rushing out of her body as she counted up the tally marks. "So, I've been in S.O.K.K.O for fifteen hours?" Out of the corner of her eyes she saw him shake his head. Rudy stepped forward, placing one hand on her other shoulder, keeping her still while he pointed at her marks with his other hand. "What does this say?" He asked. It was a small piece of script just above the tallies. It should've been easy enough to read, but Kim found her eyes straining to read it as the words blurred together on her skin. She shut her eyes, trying to prevent the massive headache coming in as she stuttered out, "I..I can't."

Rudy bobbed his head in understanding. Though the bond between Jack and Kim would need some research put into it, he could clearly see the early developments of it. Just as Kim passed wounds, injuries, issues and her claustrophobia to Jack through dreams, her meeting with Jack had allowed his dyslexia, problems and literary issues to pass to her. It was to be expected when it came to something as foreign as love. "Why can't you?" "The words...they're all...blurry." He nodded again. "Kim." She opened her eyes, to stare at him in the mirror, her face the definition of confuzzled. "What do you think it says?" She frowned. What the hell was she supposed to do? Guess? "Go ahead, guess." Okay, so she was supposed to guess. Maybe it did have something to do with time? So... "Days?" Rudy shook his head, a sad expression on his face. "It says years, Kim." Years? "You were in S.O.K.K.O for fifteen years. Since the time you were one."

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

Panic. Uncontrollable panic..and fear? Someone was afraid and panicked...no! Not someone...Kim. _His_ Kim. She was panicking, and scared and...alone. He'd left her alone with that...that _asshole!_ His uncle, his own fucking uncle, who'd abandoned him to the monsters he called _parents_ had Kim! He could hurt her, do anything he wanted to her and he wasn't there to stop it! Outraged, Jack jumped off of the bed he was on, (surprised to find it was a real bed for once) and ran to the door, taking the time to appreciate he was in fact wearing a shirt. But that wasn't important right now. What was important was finding Kim.

He raced down hallways and corridors, finding them all suspiciously empty, until he was faced with three doors on a wall, three different letters on each door. 'K', 'G' and 'J'. Which one should he go in though? ..."'K' for Kim," he muttered, barging through the door in seconds only to find his worst fear.

"AH! HOLY SHIT!" he screeched as his eyes were assaulted by bright neon pinks. His worst nightmare come true. One hand clamped over his eyes, he blindly stumbled backwards, trying to find the door he came through so he could escape only to collide with a body. He fell to the ground, his head thwacking off the floor and causing the room to spin as he moved his hand from his eyes. A bright swirling room of pink...Oh God. "Who is he?" A girl? Okay then. But who the frick was she talking to? "I don't know, ask him!" "Calm yourself, Kelsey. She was just asking a question." Okay...three girls? Maybe one of them had seen Kim! Jack jumped up, immediately regretting it as he fell right back down onto his ass; the room still spinning. "Urgh," he groaned, "Who the fuck let Donna Tobin and the pink primps puke on the walls?" "Sorry, did he just say Donna Tobin?" He heard one ask. "Yeah, Grace, he did. Probably means he goes to our school." Jack opened his eyes again, allowing everything to steady before he tried standing up again. He studied the girls, taking his time to identify them and immediately recognised two of the three.

"Kelsey Vargas and Grace O'Doherty? Never thought I'd see you guys here." "Jack? Jack Brewer?" He nodded. "The one and only." _'Come on moron! What about Kimmy!'_ his conscience roared as he mentally face-palmed. "Have any of you seen her?" The unidentified one nodded. "Where did you see who, Julie?" "Her name's Kim, right?" Jack nodded again as Julie smiled slightly. "She's really panicky. Spent ten minutes demanding to see you when she got here. Rudy's got her in his office." Jack thanked her, pushing past the group before he stopped as what she'd said finally occurred to him. _Rudy's office_. His office...that meant...They weren't at S.O.K.K.O anymore. No...they were in the Wasabi Institute.

****Hearts of Living Destiny****

Kim paced back and forth, the whole length of the closet. "So you're telling me, I've spent the last fifteen years of my life in that machine?" "Well...yes and no. You spent fifteen years of your life in _a _machine up until two days ago. You spent the last two days in _that_ machine." Kim stared at him incredulously. "There's a difference?" "Of course there is! The machine you basically lived in was a Simulator 3000. It's a machine which allows humans to grow and develop while living in programmed scenarios. Your soul, you could say, enters the machine and lives that life for a certain amount of time while your body stays in the machine. Your body changes and develops depending on how you change and develop inside the machine. When you're extracted from the machine, you remain unconscious for two hours. But you remember the whole experience as your life." Kim nodded, immediately sitting down and burying her face into her hands as frustration and panic, confuzzlement and irritance washed over her in waves. Rudy paused in his explanation allowing her a moment to take in everything. He knew that they weren't just her feelings, they were Jack's too. And anymore panicking would cause one of them to do something violent and destructive to find the other one just to calm down. Although...the violent and destructive act would most likely be done by Jack...he was just...yeah.

"So my whole life...all the beatings...it was all a lie?" Rudy shook his head. "The machine makes everything you feel real. Any beating you get, the physical effects would show as bruises and scars on your actual body. It was all very real...but it wasn't true. Your parents both died when you were one and the agency, S.O.K.K.O, found you, took you in and experimented on you. Those tally marks are tattooed into your skin. They'll never come off. They're a part of you, a part of your past and life experiences." She shook her head, getting out of the chair only to pace again. She apparently wasn't too good when it came to sitting still.

"When can I see-" The door burst open, shattering to pieces as two arms immediately embraced Kim, crushing her to their body in an excruciatingly tight hug. "Kimmers?" They asked. Kim opened her mouth to reply, when Jack broke into the room, his eyes raging as they landed on the boy hugging her. Kim looked back and forth between the two in shock before she came to her senses and pried the boy's hands off of her. Jack came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her into his body, hugging her close as he glared at the boy. "What the fuck are you doing here?" A cynical grin spread across his face as he replied, "I'm here for her."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sup peeps, just an A/N**

**I know I haven't been posting much and I'm really sorry, I have exams coming up on the 24th through to the next week, so I've been studying and I'm also a really bad multi-tasker story publisher. I don't know how you people do it, but you're really good at it. If you can be patient with me until the 31st I'll be really grateful. **

**31st onwards- free time to Fanfic my ass off. Hopefully, I'll finish Hearts of Living Destiny as soon as possible, (within the summer) and be able to move my attention to one of my other ideas which needs to a) be completed or b) be published. I'm sorry, repeatedly. **

**~The Phantom**


	8. Chapter 8

**I have some very important...possibly emotional news...**

**...IT'S SUMMER! I'M BACK PEOPLE! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh God, exams suck. Good thing I've got the next three months to finish this stuff! Howdie to you all, hope you've enjoyed school and exams as much as I haven't. Anyway, a long overdue chapter...Here it is.**

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Jack saw red as Jerry kept his arm tightly slung around Kim's shoulders. He was going to kill him. He was going to break his arm off his body and use it to bludgen his skull until it cracked. He was infuriated, and he wanted to do nothing more than act, but he couldn't. Not yet anyway.

They had moved from Rudy's office to a lounge area where they had met up with the three girls from earlier; Julie, Grace and Kelsey. They were all sitting on various couches and chairs while Jack stood directly behind Kim and Jerry, glaring searing hot daggers into his head as the Latino happily whistled to himself, grinning at Kim every once in a while causing Jack's jaw to clench as fists formed from his hands. Oh he was going to _love_ killing him, the asshole. Yes, it may seem harsh to call him that, he seemed like a good guy. He was doing normal stuff, irritating Jack and trying to steal his girl, he could _only_ be a good guy. But this wasn't any Jerry. This was Jerry Martinez, his ex-best friend. The one who'd betrayed him when Rudy, his uncle, had decided sending him to abusive parents was healthy. The ex-best friend who'd taken Jack's life, stolen the place in Wasabi as top spy, top dog, stolen the affection of his family and friends, stolen his chance of being cared for and loved before Jack met Kim. And now Jerry was trying to steal her too. But Jack could tell, to his satisfaction, that Jerry was giving her the creeps. She kept slyly sliding over on the couch when he wasn't looking and the only thing keeping her from jumping up, was Jerry's hand that tightly gripped her shoulder.

"So, why the fuck are you here, Hairy Jerry?" Jerry glared at him for the nickname. He'd gotten rid of all of his abnormal body hair ages ago, but yet Jack never seemed to forget. Jack barely withheld a grin at Kim's disgusted face as she looked over Jerry. Oh, keeping her to himself would be easier than he thought. "I'm here for Kimmers, like we all are, Mr Heartbeat." What? How did he know? Jack's glare was drawn to Julie as she cleared her throat but his gaze quickly softened as she cringed. It wasn't her he was angry at. "Sorry" he mouthed to her as she nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose to rest properly as she cleared her throat again, readying herself to explain. "Well, Jack..."

Kim glared at her. She hadn't missed the absolutely fucking adorkable display of Jack and Julie. He was glaring and angry and then he looks at her and it just...stops. She swears that he doesn't love her, that he cares more about Julie than her...but she quickly tosses the idea aside. Jack loves her, he said it, she felt it. She still feels it. Jesus, when did she start getting jealous? Jealousy wasn't a feeling commonly noted amongst humanity these days. It seemed truly ridiculous that she'd feel it. But then again, it was also truly ridiculous for her to believe in love, to feel love, and she had...so maybe it wasn't so ridiculous. Kim breathed in heavily, refusing the sigh of relief that wanted to escape. She was just insecure because she was jealous. Jack did love her, she was just jealous. That's all. He doesn't like Julie that way. Or does he?

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"You see...we have a spy working for us in the labs in S.O.K.K.O...his name is Eddie and he works as a doctor's assistant to the Professor that was tending to Kim." "Professor Krupnick?" Julie turned scarlet, stuttering slightly as she stammered out, "Y-yes, that's...t-that's him." Jack smiled to himself. Julie liked Milton. Maybe she could turn him to Wasabi? Or he'd turn her to S.O.K.K.O. Either or. He looked to Kim again, studying her and was pleased to find her completely unrestrained. Jerry's arm was in his lap, his hand rubbing circles into his 'muscle'. The term was used loosely, very, _very_ loosely. Wasabi was a great institute, Jack would concede that much, but it never provided boys or girls with muscle. "So..." Kim prompted and Julie nodded, continuing as Grace watched Jerry and Kelsey playfully nudged Jack, coming to stand beside him. "So, Eddie was observing the footage of Kim in the chamber and he saw _it._ It was only for a few seconds, not very long but long enough to know it was there. It just flitted across the screen and he could hardly believe it, he _didn't_ believe it. Mainly because we've never seen heartbeats but you know, then Milton said it in his dreamy voice and Eddie knew-" "Julie!" Kelsey squealed. Rudy poked a finger into his ear as Jack copied the movement. He was pretty sure one of his eardrums was blown.

"What Kels?" Julie groaned. You could clearly tell Kelsey did this a lot, or at least enough to become annoying fast. "Well then," she scoffed, looking mildly offended as she examined her nails. "Number one, you're rambling so you may be required to take a breath somewhere between sentences. Number two," She breathed in an excited gulp, grinning before squealing at the top of her lungs. "You said Milton's voice was _dreamy_! You so like him! I'm gonna get you two together!" Rudy immediately jumped up, raising his hand in protest before being cut off by Kelsey's very, _very_ intimidating death glare. Sure, it had nothing on brute strength, or maybe Kim's glare, but it was damn good and he quickly sat back down. "No. You do _not_ get to interfere. We are setting Julie and Milton up and then she'll lure him over to our side, Eddie will destroy the Lollipop and we'll get to live our lives happily." Kim turned to look at her curiously. What kind of plan was that? It sounded like something you'd read in a fairy tale, a complete fantasy that would never come true. "What's the Lollipop?" Kelsey looked at her incredulously before Jerry grinned, putting his arm back across her shoulders. "What d'ya think it is, babe? It sucks feelings out of people, it's a sucker, that's why it's a lollipop."

Kim nodded before seeing the slight pucker of Jerry's lips and laughing. She placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as she giggled. "Awh, Jer-Bear. I think you're mistaking _me_ for a lollipop." Jerry frowned, confused as Grace looked at them curiously, a hint of rage in her eyes as she spotted Kim's hand on his shoulder. "I don't get it...I'm confused." Jerry pouted and Kim laughed again, causing a hint of a smile to cross Jack's lips at the bell-like sound. He loved that sound. "Because Jerry, you evidently think _I'm _a sucker. So not the case. The only person I'm a sucker for is my Jack-Rabbit." "Why not your Jer-Bear?" Kim giggled softly, standing up and walking around to the back of the couch where Jack wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her, drawing her into his chest as he nuzzled her neck with his nose, his lips brushing her skin as she smiled, her hands playing with the ends of his hair. "Because _Jerry_, rabbit's are my favourite, they're cute, lovable, fluffy and when they pout it's adorable. Bears however, are ridiculously hairy, have rancid breath and will probably try to kill me at some point, I also don't _like_ bears, while I _love_ rabbits." "I don't get it." Kim sighed, exasperated as she turned her head slightly to the left to get a better view of Jerry as Jack pressed a kiss to her pulse point. "I _love_ Jack, don't even _like_ you but Gracie over there, may be a different story. Now if you'll excuse me, Bear-boy, Jack and I are going to go find a room."

Julie's eyes widened, her hands pressing to her ears as she sighed. Her poor virgin ears were going to be killed soon, especially seeing as the only spare room was beside hers. "Now, now Kim, I know you're happy to have Jack back-" "Ecstatic actually, I missed him, unlike _some_ people," she said, pointedly looking at Jerry and Rudy while Jack stayed buried in the crook of her neck, letting her voice whisper to him and calm him down. He liked that she stood up for him, that she told them how it was; who she belonged to. He loved her and he wanted everyone to understand she was his, she just made that so much easier. "And no, we're not going to have sex if that's what you're thinking. We're going to go to sleep, because in case you haven't noticed, we're both extremely tired. So shut the fuck up, and leave us alone until this time tomorrow. Got it? Good." Kim delicately turned around in Jack's arms, allowing him to bury his face back into the crook of her neck when she was facing the other way. His arms tightened around her waist as they slowly walked from the room, Kim leading him in the general direction of the rooms. Rudy had told her the lay-out and if she remembered correctly, there was a spare room around here somewhere.

* * *

Kim climbed into the bed, shivering. There had been a change of clothes for each of them in the wardrobe as well as pjs, almost like they were expected. Kim had already showered and changed, ready for bed. She was fine at first but then the temperature all of a sudden dropped, and she felt like a popsicle lying in the huge double bed. It was so cold, and even in her Dad's hous- no. Even in the _simulator,_ it wasn't this cold, but then again they probably made sure she wouldn't get too cold in case it affected the process. She shivered again, cuddling into the pillow as she tugged the duvet tighter. The crunch of the carpet under Jack's feet alerted her to his presence and she scooted over, pulling herself further into the bed as Jack lifted the cover, a draft of freezing cold air hitting her back. It just made the cold feeling worse.

"Hey Kimmy, come here." He whispered. Her back was to him and his hand hesitantly rested on her waist as if waiting for her to push him away. She did the opposite in fact. The moment his warm hand touched the exposed skin between her tank top and the top of her pj pants she grabbed his hand, pulling it over her and causing his arm to follow it. He moved closer to accomodate and wrapped his other arm around her as she turned into his chest, cuddling into it like she had the pillow. "How are you so warm?" She muttered, letting the feeling of home wash over her as he tugged her closer. She complied, practically lying on top of him as a result but she didn't mind and he didn't seem to either. Jack just pecked the top of her head, muttering a, "dunno" before she buried her face into the crook of his neck, returning his favour. Her cold breath sent chills down his spine and he finally realized just how cold she was. She felt like an ice-cube, completely freezing and he found himself pulling her tighter against his chest, trying to share as much of his warmth as possible. He didn't like that she felt so cold, he wanted her to feel warm and happy and peaceful. He wanted her to feel at home with him and her being cold totally ruined that.

"Hey Kimmy, just go to sleep, 'kay? You'll warm up soon." He assured her, pressing another kiss to the nearest piece of her skin, her shoulder, and watching as the tension in her body released, slacking and relaxing against him and causing him to do the same. He couldn't help but notice how perfect she was. She was his idea of perfection, no matter what anyone else said. Beautiful, intelligent, enchanting, caring, loving but not flawless. She had flaws but she wasn't ashamed of them. She wore them as a scar or a tattoo, he wasn't sure which to say, but she wore them as a part of her and didn't let the fact that she had flaws consume her. Her flaws made her real, and to Jack, that was one of the best things about her. Because no matter what anyone said, no one was flawless. And she was flawed, and being flawed to Jack, was the final step to perfection. A perfection only Kim seemed to possess.

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**So, there ya have it. Hope you enjoyed. It's good to be back!**


	9. Chapter 9

Kim groaned as she saw the blood trickling down her arm. Jack was tightly gripping her other hand while he yelled at the three doctors running back and forth. He didn't like seeing Kim bleed anymore than she did and he was trying to put a stop to it by screaming at the three girls. Yes, girls. Julie, Kelsey and Grace were the doctors of the Wasabi Institute. And though Jack thought he was helping, it became apparent that even after three weeks with him, his yelling about Kim's safety didn't get anymore normal. Maybe because it wasn't. His caring and overprotective nature when it came to Kim was irrational and unreal, but that's what love was. Love was irrational, it was unreal and it was crazy, it was overprotective, it was caring, and it was painful, but it was all worth it.

Julie finally found the bandages in a drawer and quickly placed a sanitized wipe over the bloodstream running down Kim's arm, wiping it up before pressing the wipe to the leaking spot where four needles had already been shamelessly poked in. Kelsey was still searching for the medical tape but Grace had settled herself to easing off the pressure of the tubes in Kim's arm. Neither Jack nor Kim knew exactly what was happening, or what it was about, or why it needed to be done, they just knew that the different pipes would separate her bloodstream until they could isolate certain cells that carried the ingredients for love. Though Kim was a little confused over why they needed the ingredients to love if they weren't going to try and make soul mates or obliterate her ability to feel. "Sorry Kim, just give me a sec. Kels, tape this, it's leaking." Julie gestured to a green lined plastic tube, the centre of Kim's pain at the moment. It was highly pressurised and it was as sore as hell and she really just wanted something to distract her.

"OW! Shit! Get that crap out of my arm!" "Hush up loser. Kim's toughing it, you can too." Jack tightened his death grip on her hand as Grace placed four identical needles into his straightened left arm, directing them into the major veins and arteries that ran across the surface, before she attached four tubes, identical to the ones in Kim's right arm. "Now, if we connect this-no, shit. Kels, check the monitor." The girl quickly ran over to a highly expensive looking monitor that covered half the wall while a series of different panels and buttons ran across the space underneath it on a type of keypad. She was busily hammering away on the thing when suddenly, it appeared. The heart beat.

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"Well...It's been three weeks, we can only assume that they're planning something, something that will hinder the operation greatly. The Wasabi Institute...they've been incredibly secretive and our undercover agent hasn't been able to reveal anything that we haven't already established. The subject, Kimberly, is being held in a safe house that replicates the original office torn down years ago, but it's been determined that they found the use of the other subject." "Jackson?" "Yes. Though they aren't as well instigated into the lives of the two subjects and their individual abilities, they've learnt enough from their interaction to understand that they as a couple share a combined gift that recreates the sound of drums." The figure rested his hands on his desk, leaning forward into the shadows as they overlooked the man speaking. He was nervously shifting from foot to foot as he explained the situation and the figure seemed to revel in the idea of nervousness.

"Can we confirm that her true identity hasn't been compromised? Should they ever discover the reality of the situation-" "We can assure you, ma'am, that the girl's-" "Kimberly. Arthur, use her name as I have requested." "Kimberly's identity has yet to be discovered by the Wasabi Institute, ma'am. Though we can confirm the suspicion that they remember Jackson from his time in the Institute." The woman let out a callouse chuckle. She'd be surprised if his own Uncle didn't remember him. Or better yet, his ex-best friend. "...Has Jackson noticed the difference yet?" "Negative. The replica is identical down to the last ink mark, ma'am. He'll never notice and neither will his colleagues." She sighed as Arthur paused, concern overtaking his once nervously frigid features. "Ma'am, I must enquire...Does it not bother you that you are deceiving them? That you've tricked fate and let him fall for-" "Not another word, Arthur. No it does not _bother_ me. I'm merely doing what it takes to protect her."

A wave of dismissal in the dim shaft of light revealed crimson finger tips, small hearts seemingly engraved into the nail itself. Arthur took his leave instantly as his boss leaned back in her chair, the leather shifting as it fell from the chari to encase her shoulders like a cloak. "She will thank me. I'm certain of it. I'm protecting her from a fate that was never hers." The leather around her shifted, carressing her shoulders as it slipped down to tie in front of her with a broach sealing the two sides together. She moved slightly, the light catching the broach's front and revealing a large and prowd 'C' in fancy gold cursive engraved into the broach with surrounding vines. _'Of course she will be grateful, miss-ss-tress-ss. What daughter could not be?'_

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**So...sorry I couldn't update sooner...Hope it satisfies you. Who's the creep? Who's the spy? Who's the daughter?...Find out...some time in the next few chapters. ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay peeps, here we go.**

**FOR ANYONE THAT WAS CONFUSED LAST CHAPTER READ THIS NOW!**

**Basically, we continue on with the story, three weeks later and the girls (Kelsey, Grace and Julie) are in their lab with Kim and Jack, they're running tests and connected them to machines via four needles in the arm that connect to four tubes. As said in the chapter, they're trying to isolate the cells that contain ingredients for love by filtering it bit by bit into a machine which will scan it. Kinda like that machine that cleans blood when people are waiting for kidney transplants. Anyway, Kim is bleeding because of a leaky tube and Jack is being overprotective and yelling at them about it and yeah. So then back at S.O.K.K.O, Arthur, one of the agents is speaking with his boss who he addresses as Ma'am. They basically say there's a spy in the Wasabi Institute and that they've confirmed via the spy that they're running tests on Kim and Jack. They continue they're evil discussion and Arthur assures her that the replica, whatever that is (which you'll soon find out), is completely identical and that nobody will notice that it's a replica. He then asks if she feels bad about something but the question is cut off and he's dismissed as Ma'am reveals she's doing this for a girl's own good. After he leaves the leather of her chair falls off and comes around her like a cape (remember the prologue? I said ****_NEW_**** earth? Yeah, well this will be part of that) and seals at the front with a large broach engraved with a 'C'. The cape (really not a cape, but that'll be explained later) then whispers to her that it is in fact for the girl's own good.**

**Now, if you had a problem with the explanation, PM me and I'll try it again. The explanation, not the chapter. Jesus no.**

**BTW, jackandkimforever, that was a very convincing speech. ;) I'll update either tomorrow or Sunday. Thanks for reviewing, love y'all.**

**Adios for now, **

**~The Phantom**


	11. Chapter 11

**Suppers, you can thank JackandKimforever, for very, ****_very_**** nicely asking me to update, so as promised, here it is...**

* * *

Kim lay back on the bed, waiting to be pushed into the machine. She absolutely hated the fucking thing...well, _all_ machines, but still. She didn't want to go in, but after they'd finished the blood tests, and heart monitoring they'd decided it would be a better idea to monitor both her and Jack's subconscious. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't feel like it'd help much, she actually felt kind of...invaded. It was a weird feeling, but she guessed not all feelings are made to be normal, case point; Love and Jealousy, something she'd been surprised by seeing so often in her time with the girls. Grace was continuously swooning over Jerry to the point of drooling when he fluffed his hair and then glaring daggers at anyone, girl _or_ boy that attempted to talk to him. Given that Jerry still hadn't stopped bugging her, Kim herself received a majority of those glares.

"Hey guys, all set?" Kelsey chirped. She was ridiculously chipper at 5am and it just irritated Kim. She didn't know what was wrong with her lately, it seemed beyond absurd. She was constantly cold, highly irritable and a complete grouch. Sometimes she felt like she wasn't herself at all. "Where's Gracie?" Jack asked beside Kim. The brunette girl was like a little sister to him and he was extremely defensive and annoyed of her crush on Jerry. It wasn't exactly helpful to him because she continuously used the puppy eyes to try and get him to accept Jerry, faults, past and all. So far? it wasn't working. "She's practising her daggers." "She's glaring at someone? Who's it this time?" Jack enquired. They'd all begun to refer to Grace's glaring as 'practising her daggers', though at Kelsey's confused expression Kim could guess she didn't understand. She was quite like Jerry sometimes. "No. She's using her throwing knives. She's _actually_ practising her daggers. Wasabi wants to send her on a recon mission to S.O.K.K.O." "Recon?" "Yeah. We've gotten word from our 'little helper' that there's a Shadow on the loose and it's instigated itself into the life of the CEO of S.O.K.K.O." Kim frowned. What the fuck was a Shadow? Wasn't it- "You don't mean the Shadow beasts do you?"

* * *

_"You don't mean the Shadow beasts do you?"_ _'So they've discovered me, miss-ss-tress-ss.'_ "No, Lamia, they have not. They only believe such news. They believe CEO Randolph possesses you. They have no idea of the truth." She chuckled, brushing her hands across the collar of her cape in a soothing fashion as it hissed, the cape's collar tightening before relaxing, like a muscle tensing and easing. _'Which beast do they believe it is?' "Yeah, we've been told it's a bat. They're really dangerous so we've sent Gracie to prep." "A bat? Aren't Shadow bats vampires? Are you saying a vampire is in charge of S.O.K.K.O?" "Duh. Why else would it want to suck out your feelings? In a world where no one feels love or the compulsion to care about another human, Shadow bats and Shadow beasts can feed endlessly without being hunted. You trigger a love reformation and they're screwed. They'll be extinct faster than you could be shot."_ "Hush pet, it's alright, they may have discovered our plan but they are too late." She grinned, moving towards her computer and plucking a joystick out from her desk, connecting it to the computer. "Let's see how they like our surprise, shall we dear?" She felt the shiver of satisfaction from her cloak and quickly jerked the stick before hitting the large black button beside it.

* * *

"How long does it take to be-argh." Kim whined, pressing a hand to her chest as Kelsey helped her sit up. She began coughing, feeling a _jerking_ in her chest. It felt like her heart was trying to shatter her ribs and escape into the wilderness of the lab. It burned and she fought the urge to cry as it worsened, the jerking feeling intensifying until it became too much and she fell heavily into Kelsey's side, her vision blurring as her mind cleared completely, emptying itself until nothing was left but the darkness. "Kim? Kim wake up! Kim!"

* * *

**There ya have it my pretties. Hope you liked it. If you're confused, PM me or write it in your review and like last time, I'll post the explanation. Cheers.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Right so, this is explanation no. 2. **

**In the last chapter, Kim and Jack were being prepped to be put inside a machine. Kelsey was going to be doing it and when asked where Grace was, she said Grace was practising her daggers. Some of the people at the Wasabi Institute use 'practising her daggers' as a reference to glaring, like for example; Grace was glaring ****daggers. ****Now, when she said that, she explained Grace was getting ready to go investigate S.O.K.K.O because of the intell they received from a spy that said there's a shadow beast over there. Remember when I said that this was the ****new**** earth? Yeah, shadow beasts are like the monsters of this world, they're the bedtime stories that came to life in the dark of night and take on the appearence of certain animals. The one at S.O.K.K.O is the cape thing that 'Mistress' has on. It's a Shadow Bat, that influences and controls certain people by messing with their mind. The whole 'leather peeling of the chair to form the cape' was a reference to the wings of a bat which are leathery. **

**Now, in the scenes with Batboy and Mistress, you see the ****_italic_**** writing which is a direct copy of what Kim and the others are saying. That's because there's an eavesdropping device in the room. (AKA Kim! Surprise!) Then for fun, Mistress messes with a joystick, jerks it and Kim goes down like a tonne of bricks. That my dears, is because Kim is not Kim, she's a replica (explains why she was cold all of the time don't it?). Boom! Congratulations JackandKimforever, you've guessed correctly. Virtual cookies for you! **

**Now, Jack and the others don't know this and think she's passed out, which in a way she has. The jerky joystick has killed the replica, and we'll see what happens in the next chapter. Hope this clears things up for you. **

**Peace people!**

**~The Phantom**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, so I was listening to some tunes and I suddenly had this massive epiphany of how to end the story which then inspired me to write because when I wrote that summary, I had no idea how I was going to make Kim start bawling like that, but now I do, so I hope you like this! It's mostly gonna be a flashback which is in Italics after it says *flashback, and you'll know when it ends when it says *end of flashback. Just to say it to ya. Anyway, this will be the last few chapters...Don't cry, it's good to get this thing done! I'll have finally finished one story! Whoop! And I have a few ideas that I can make into Kick stories so when I finish this, it won't be the last you've heard of me, but I'll be focusing on other stuff, maybe putting up a few one shots and two shots, but I'll be trying to finish my other stories. And yes, I've had a lot of sugar today to answer your question about why this A/N is so long...ANYWAY...on with the story...**

* * *

_"Kim!"_ She flashed awake, sitting up like a rocket and smacking her head off of something above her causing her to cry out. What the fuck? She looked up, hearing another winge of pain and several curses being uttered across the room and followed the noise with her eyes. Sitting in a stiff, hard backed chair was a brunette girl. She recognised her...Grace, was it? "Hi, I'm Kim, where the fuck am I?" The girl let out a snort before rubbing her sore forehead. "And I'm Grace. Now that you've so _'politely'_ introduced yourself, wanna tell me what you remember?" Kim gave her a blank look and Grace sighed, rubbing her temples as she muttered, frustrated, "you don't remember anything." "Well _duh!_" She snapped, instantly regretting the tone of her voice as she rubbed her own temples. Why was it so fucking loud? As if reading her mind, the girl answered, "We're in a tube on the expressway. We're heading to the Capital city to rear end S.O.K.K.O and convince the President to surrender. He's been on their side the whole time. The reason it's so loud is because we're in a small, reflective space. It's creating a high pitched echo. Now, shut up so I can tell you what happened."

_*Flashback! 0_0_

_Grace quickly clambered up the pole freestyle, ducking into the opened vent before she was noticed. It bugged her that she had no gadgets to work with. What kind of respectable spy organisation doesn't give people __**gadgets!**__ Like seriously! She was starting to see why Jack left...this place was damn irritating. The one decent thing they gave her was a pair of throwing knives, her phone and a stress ball. It wasn't even a stress ball it was a rock solid cement ball that had been professionally molded. She wished she'd known that the first time she'd used it, could've saved her a broken wrist, but that was in the past. Now it had a purpose. She could hit people with it!_

_Like a chipper child on crack she crawled through the vent without a thought, glancing down at the many openings to see if she was close. The mission had been altered slightly. Not only was it a recon mission for information, but she also had to blow up the fucking base in the hopes of vanquishing the Shadow Beast. Yes, blowing up a building with lots of people in it is highly dangerous and extremely stupid...that's why Grace was doing it and not anyone else. Checking the vent mark, she caught sight of a marking on the wall. 5. This was it, all she had to do was find the right shaft, jump, set up the bomb, steal the paperwork and alert Eddie to leave the building with Milton. The boy was insane, but he was a genius and Grace wouldn't risk a chance to help Julie find Nerd Love. Crawling forward, she removed the vent cover nearest to her and stuck her head down to see what was there. Yes, still highly dangerous and extremely stupid, but it was Grace and she was gadget-less. _

_Surveying the area with her eyes like she would with the camera watch from Agent Cody Banks if Rudy had listened to her and given it over, (the props were provided by Wasabi Insitute, or so she was told) she confirmed that there was only one camera and it wasn't exactly facing her. The back of the camera was where the wires were anyway, so it just made the whole thing easier. Slipping a knife into her hand, she leaned across the vent space, dangling down until she reached the camera and grabbing onto the stem that held it to the ceiling. Slowly, she cut the red wire that disappeared into the ceiling, making sure it was the right one before she slipped her phone out of her pocket along with a small headphone's input. Attaching the wire to the end, she shoved the input into her phone and botta-boom botta-bing, the image the camera had showed up. One thing to know about S.O.K.K.O cameras is that they're infra-red, normal screening, and x-ray. Three settings that can be changed depending on what you want to see. They can see through anything with any of the settings, but the only thing they can't see through...is bubble gum. Grinning, Grace turned on the x-ray, making the screen of her phone fuzz before an image came up. Slowly, she aimed the camera to survey the office room. The best way to spot a Shadow Beast in the dark is to use a S.O.K.K.O camera. Their skin is made of something similar to bubble gum and if you use x-ray vision...you'll see them because you can't see through them. Easy right?_

_After a few minutes of awkwardly twisting, Grace realized it wasn't there and dropped onto the desk. She surveyed the floor...pressure sensors, and then grabbed onto the lamp above her head, using it to swing onto the filing cabinet. The filing cabinet had the drawers raised four inches from the floor, as long as she didn't move too much or apply pressure directly to the floor, she could get what she needed. Using a bobby pin from her hair, she picked the cabinet's lock and began opening the drawers, pulling out certain files that were marked classified before slipping them into her backpack. Who needed gadgets? She was a girl, she had all the essentials for being a spy in her purse. Grinning, she continued to shove files into her backpack, skimming through the ones that read __**'Extremely Classified. To be read by Related Personnel Only.'**__ Should anyone question it, she'd tell them she read them because they were related to her mission, but she was doing it alone, she had free reign and the world could suck it! It was a tiring practise, tedious until she found it. It didn't say anything life threatening like, __**Bomb plans**__ or __**Brainstorms on how to kill Grace Hickey and the Wasabi Institute**__. No, what it said was much more gut wrenching. _

_The file read __**Extraction**__ and in dark, writing underneath the blood splatters on the cover it read, __**Complete.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**Continuing from where we left off: Here's the catch up before I post more chapters [Call me butter, cuz I'm on a roll ;) And, more chapters coming later...not many, but more]:**

**Kim wakes up and smacks her head off of Grace who was standing over her. Their voices are really loud because they're travelling in an expressway to the Capital city of what I consider New America, considering it's a **_**New world**_**, and they're planning on overthrowing the President who was in on it the whole time, or so Grace says. She then tells Kim that she's going to explain what happened seeing as Kim can't remember and this is basically all going to be in italics because it's going to be a super long flashback. *Flashback starts with Grace entering an air vent in S.O.K.K.O and mentally whining about not having real gadgets. She sneaks into an office, wires a S.O.K.K.O camera to her phone and then uses it to check if the Shadow Beast (the Bat thing called Lamia that piggy backs on Mistress) is in the room because the camera sees through everything except bubblegum and the Shadow Beasts' skin is made from a substance similar to bubblegum. When she sees it's not there she starts raiding a filing cabinet for information (part of her tasks other than getting Eddie out of the building with Milton/Professor Krupnick, and blowing up the building) when she comes across a very interesting file...**

* * *

_The file read __**Extraction**__ and in dark, writing underneath the blood splatters on the cover it read, __**Complete...**_

_Grace's eyes practically popped out of her skull and she quickly scrambled to get her phone. What the fuck! Kim was at the Institute, how could the extraction be complete?...Unless it wasn't Kim in the Institute. Hitting Speed Dial 1#, she stared aimlessly at the opposite wall as the receiver picked up. "What the fuck, Jackson!" She hissed, fumbling with the file as she flipped through it, trying to find out when it happened, "What happened to Kim? Huh, Jackie? Where the fuck is she?" She kept her voice quiet to avoid being caught, but even a deaf person could hear the anger in her tone. Jack, obviously being fully capable of hearing, stuttered out a response to ease her. "She-She's in a coma...She just collapsed-" "Where is she, __**right now?**__ Is she there? Do you have someone watching her?" She heard yelling on the other end before a breathy Jack replied, "Yeah, she's here. Why? Is something wrong?" _

_Grace's heart dropped to her stomach as her eyes continued reading, barely hearing Jack's question on the other end of the phone line. She wasn't really reading, just flicking through a report made around the same time Rudy found Jack and Kim in S.O.K.K.O, but certain words stood out like neon lights, words like; replica, fake, copy, comatoise...__**dead.**__ She wasn't exactly sure of what it said, it was half-written in English, the other half being complete and utter gibberish that looked strangely like Nerdish. Yes, it was now an official language, like Sweedish, Dutch, German, French, Spanish. Only problem was that Grace couldn't translate it. "Erm...Jack, could you hand your phone to Julie, get her to wire it to the computer, I need to talk to her..." She said sweetly. It was obvious something had happened to Kim based on the report and she couldn't bare the fact that she might be dead based on what it said, no matter what Grace felt jealousy wise, Kim was important to Jack and Jack was like her older brother. Some day, Kim might even end up being her sister-in-law. And no matter what her feelings were about Jerry, Grace would never wish Kim dead. There was some shuffling on the phone and then Julie picked up. "Grace what's wrong? Jack said you were being sweet. Did something happen?" "Julie, I'm gonna send you something...I need you to translate it. It's got to do with Kim...and the Extraction." _

_Silence. Grace took it as a sign to hurry up and take the damn picture and she did, snapping a photo of the report with her phone before sending it to Julie. There was some buzzing, then some yelling, and then more silence and Grace wasn't sure what was happening, but she quickly zipped up her bag, preparing to get out of there when Julie suddenly came back on the phone, her voice panting as the sound of slamming doors echoed behind her. "Grace!" She yelled, and Grace was barely able to hear afterwards. "Grace go find Kim!" "What? But Jack said she was there! I mean...obviously she's not...but, Julie what's happening?" "She's in one of the labs, comatoise. You have to go find her! Jack's on his way, just go get her Grace! Hurry! She might be-What the fuck? I thought you were dead. How the-" The conversation was cut short and Grace's eyes swelled with tears as Julie let out a blood-curdling scream before the call was ended. She wanted to curl up and cry, but she couldn't. She needed to go find Kim. One of the labs...such a helpful suggestion when S.O.K.K.O was a scientific spy organisation. Half of the building was made up of labs...But only six were life support..._

_Grace jumped, grabbing one strap of her backpack with one hand and latching onto the lamp with the other, she swung across, landing shakily on the desk before jumping up and pulling herself through the vent. She was on level 5, labs were on levels 7-10 and 2-4. Now, if she was a genius (which she was...sorta) and she was looking to put six life support labs somewhere, where would she put them?...Hmm...Somewhere with easy access to an exit...The roof had a helicopter pad, and most hospitals had helicopters (they were a lot more common than ambulances nowadays). Level 10 it is then. Checking her phone, she saw she had a new text. _

**_Jack: I'm on my way. Be there soon. Life support on level 10, ventilation from level 5 leads up in a slant._**

_"Well thanks for telling me where it is, Jack!" She whispered spitefully. "Thanks for telling us where you were, Gracie." She heard someone hiss behind her, before everything went black._

* * *

_When she woke up, she was tied to a chair, handcuffed, and she was gagged but that sure as hell didn't stop her swearing. Her eyes were seeing stars and she shook her head slightly, rolling her neck before she focused on where she was. It didn't take her two minutes to understand that she was locked inside the life support labs she was looking for earlier, and she quickly set on to finding her target. Surprisingly, it was a little more difficult, but when she found Kim, she understood. The girl was pale as a sheet of paper and as thin as one too. She was weak and had a pipe running under her nose and one running into her mouth, both lead away to a ventilation system that was helping her breathe. There were small wires and tubes circulating her, running to all sorts of different machines including one she'd seen not too long ago. A heart monitor, and to her surprise, it was flat-lined. Dead. Suddenly the words she'd been able to read from the file came flooding back. Replica, fake, copy, comatoise, dead. Kim was **comatoise** and it was pretty obvious now that they'd created a **copy** of Kim, a **fake** that was an exact **replica**. They'd placed her in the machine and let her be taken to the Wasabi Institute as a spy...or maybe just to give them enough time to complete the extraction. Then because of the extraction, the heartbeat, the most precious thing Grace had ever heard, was **dead**. Grace thought she might implode. How could they do this to her? To a teenage girl with her whole life ahead of her? "Bastards," she whispered, struggling with her binds. "Not bastards, Grace, scientists, geniuses, **masters**."_

_Grace's struggling stopped as two hands placed their weight on hers, holding her still as the familiar voice whispered in her ear, "We'll be your masters and you'll all bow down. We'll **rule**." He teased, brushing his lips across her cheek as a warm and wet tear slid down her face over where he'd kissed her. "J-Jerry?" She mumbled, feeling something contracting painfully in the left half of her chest. She'd felt it before, but she'd never really understood it...but Kim had told her what it was once, or at least who she thought was Kim told her what it was. Heartbreak. "W-why?" She sniffled as the full understanding of what he'd done dawned on her. "W-why would you d-do this? We're wasabi warriors...I'm your Gracie and you're my Jer. Why w-would you do **t-this**?" She stammered, anger and misery, complete despair settling in her tone. But Jerry merely tutted, tauntingly wiping away her tears as he walked around her to face her, gently toying with her hair. "Well G-Gracie," he mocked, "I'm no idiot. What did you think I meant when I said I was here for Kim? Kim was a clone, the real one was here and the real one...is the key to me being superior. Who did you think Randolph was? Do you even know what Jerry is short for? Jeremiah. Jeremiah **Randolph**." Grace's breath hitched and the smirk on Jerry's face only widened. "I'm not a 'Wasabi Warrior' Gracie, I'm the CEO of S.O.K.K.O." She wasn't sure what was worse right now, her heartbreak at this revelation or the fact that she'd hated Kim over Grace's liking of the CEO of S.O.K.K.O...maybe both were equally awful...Yep, equally awful._

_At that moment, the door burst open and in strolled three buffed and beefed up security guards carrying a struggling Jack on their shoulders. Correction, a struggling hog-tied Jack. If the situation wasn't so serious, Grace would've laughed, but it was so she didn't. The guards undid the ropes, tying them just around his hands before they threw Jack from their shoulders, smacking his feet into the ground as they forced him to stand. "Jack, so nice of you to join us! You remember Grace right? How about our lovely Kim? You've met her too, right? Unfortunately for you though..she can't talk right now." He laughed and Grace suddenly wanted to puke. The sick bastard. She could see the veins in Jack's neck as he clenched his jaw, probably breaking his teeth with the force he was grinding them together to avoid head butting him. He was restraining himself, and she wasn't sure why, but she knew he had a plan from the impatient glint in his eyes. His eyes flickered to the clock on the wall and then returned to Grace, staring at her. There was something different about them and then she saw it. He was dilating his pupils. The Wasabi code. To simplify? The Wasabi Institute taught all of their agents how to control their pupil dillation and make it into a kind of sign language with a mix of blinks and winks. Grace was an expert translator and Jack was an expert transmitter. _

_H. E. L. P. O. T. W. S. C. W. G. G. O. O. H. A. _

_Help is on the way, stay calm. We're gonna get out of here alive._

_She sure as hell hoped so._


	15. Chapter 15

**Continuing on from where we left off...**

**Nerdish is a real language and the 'very interesting file' was written half in English and half in Nerdish so Grace took a picture of it and sent it to Julie. Julie told her Jack is going to help her and that Kim (the real one) is in one of the life support labs in S.O.K.K.O. Julie was about to tell her more when someone entered the room she was in and Julie screamed before the call was ended. Grace jumped back into the vent trying to think of where the life support labs are when Jack texted her. They're on level 10 of the building and she was on her way up when she got hit in the back of the head and kidnapped...in an air vent. Yes, very interesting. When she woke up she was in Kim's room in S.O.K.K.O and Kim was unconscious with machines helping her breathe. Jerry is really Jeremiah Randolph, the CEO of S.O.K.K.O and Grace is currently experiencing both heartbreak and anger about it. Jack was carried into the room hog-tied before he was unhog-tied and set on his feet. Jerry made a really bad evil villan joke while reintroducing Jack and Kim, saying Kim can't exactly talk right now. Then Jack did the Wasabi code (a series of winks, blinks and controlled pupil dillations) to Grace and told her...**

* * *

_Help is on the way, stay calm. We're gonna get out of here alive._

_She sure as hell hoped so, because there was absolutely no way she was going to die in a building named after Socks by the hand of her insane ex-crush. That's right! __**Ex!**__ 'Oh yeah Jerry,' she mentally cheered, 'We're __**done!**__'. She knew she wasn't going to say it, and that it wasn't much, but it was important for her to say this now so when she blew the bastard to hell, and she __**would**__, it wouldn't hurt as much. Sure it'd still hurt, just...not as much. As Jerry's evil laughter continued and the insane cycle of boredom rolled on, Grace hung her head, deciding on annoying the CEO. "Jerry shut up! I'm trying to sleep!" She snarled, hiding a smirk on the surface as anger bubbled under his eyes. He didn't like being ignored, she knew that much, so in a moment of what he believed to be 'evil genius' he'd obviously hate it. "HEY! You can't __**sleep!**__ This is the moment that'll change the history of the world. In fifteen minutes, I'll be leaving to the Capital city to greet the President. He's the one who's been funding S.O.K.K.O since the beginning afterall, and so now, he's going to be the first one to have his soul mate. Then, over coming weeks, we'll release the serum into the mainstream stores. People will flock to it, desperate to try and get their soul mate and then, I'll be __**rich!**__" Jack's eyes widened, his mouth opening as he screeched out, "But that'll cause a war! People who don't get what they want will fight each other for it! Nobody will have a choice and everyone will kill each other!" Jerry nodded, seemingly startled by that revelation before shrugging his shoulders. "Who cares? I'll be rich!"_

_Grace kinda never understood why the evil guys always told the good guys their plan, but at this point, she was grateful. Because when she got the hell out of this chair and hit him with it, she'd know she'd stopped something horrible. But considering she thought his idiocy was adorable, because up until now, he **was** an idiot, she had to admit, if she were ever to hatch an evil plan, that'd be the one she'd want. "Dumbass, who cares if you're rich if everyone's dead?" Jack growled. So much for keeping calm. Grace kept her head down, staring at the floor and the blood specks on it. There were blood specks on a lot of things. The floor, Kim's bed sheets, the file...what the hell happened? "Hey Gracie, what'cha thinkin of?" Jerry chuckled before Grace spat on him. He immediately shut up, wiping the spit from his face before directing a glare her way as Jack chuckled silently, slightly more calm than before but still highly irritated. "What's with the blood?" "Oh! That...yeah, Kim gave us **quite a surprise**...especially considering there was no bump. I mean seriously, she was stick thin but then we got it out and...whoa it was weird." "**It?**" "Yeah! The b-Y'know what, I'm not gonna say. But I'll tell you that **it** is the reason Kim doesn't have a heartbeat anymore. And neither does Jack, just a BTW. The heartbeat was never theirs, so when the real...let's say **owner** came out, it took its heartbeat with it. That's why Kim's monitor flatlined. Either that or the surgery and extraction killed it." _

_Grace stared at him for a moment, in typical Jerry confusion before she slowly put the pieces together. A heartbeat that was never Kim's but showed on the monitor when the wires connected to her...something beginning with a 'b' that came_ **_out_**_ of Kim...Her eyes widened almost comically and she started choking and sputtering as Jerry snickered, rubbing her back. "Awh there there, Gracie. Ya figure it out yet?" She nodded, and almost burst into laughter when Jack asked, "What are you talking about? I don't get it." She stared at him incredulously. Did he really not get it? What was there not to get especially if they had had...you know...Ew! She didn't even want to think about that, but if they'd done it and Jerry'd given him those clues, how could he **not** get it? Unless...they **hadn't** done it...Before she could even question anything the sound of gun shots was heard and suddenly one of the guards was on the floor, a bullet hole in the back of his head as Jerry screamed. Jack nodded at her, shrugging away his confusion as he elbowed one of the guards in the nose, breaking it before he kicked the other in the 'crown jewels'. Kelsey chose this moment to appear, running in with a cut eyebrow and a bust lip. She charged towards Grace, pulling a knife out of its sheathe and slicing through the ropes that restrained Grace before throwing it at the guards now clammering into the room. "Get your ass up and fight with me bitch!" She joked, before charging over between two guards, jumping up and kickin them both in the face. _

_It was show time._


	16. Chapter 16

**Continuing from where we left off...**

**Jerry revealed his evil plan which involved going to the Capital city and giving the President some of the serum as a kind of advertising before he let it hit mainstream stores and got rich. Jack told him it'd actually cause a new world war when people started fighting over each other and their soul mates and he didn't care. Grace was staring at the floor and when Jerry asked her what she was thinking about she spat on him before asking why there was blood on the floor. He basically told her that Kim was pregnant and had a kid and that's why her heart monitor flatlined, because the heartbeat was never hers. Jack doesn't understand but Grace does and now she's an Aunt! We currently don't know where the kid is, but Grace thinks that Jack and Kim never did 'it' which leaves the question of how was Kim pregnant. Then Kelsey showed up and one of the guards got shot and died and now they're all in fight mode. So...yeah... more to be explained...**

* * *

_"Get up off of you ass and fight with me bitch!" She joked before charging over between two guards and jumping up, kicking them both in the face._

_It's show time._

_Half an hour into the fight, Grace clattered to the floor with a thud, wrestling with the guy on top of her as he tried to force a knife to her neck. Jesus this bastard was strong. So far, she'd been thrown completely off the course of her mission and was in need of rescue and now Kelsey, she and Jack along with some of the more adult agents from the Wasabi Institute, were fighting with the guards from S.O.K.K.O. They'd almost all been taken down except for Jerry. Or at least they thought it was just Jerry, but as he was pinned to the floor by Jack, the other agents leaving to secure the area as Grace head butted the guy on top of her unconscious, there was a gun shot. There was a second of silence, a mere second and then Jack collapsed. _

_Grace clambered to her feet, tackling the lone guard and straddling him, letting her fist do the work as she bludgened his face with an anger she didn't think possible. It wasn't until she was yanked off of him by Kelsey that she saw the damage that she'd done. Blood was spilling out of his nose, his face was bruised, his lips bust and some of his teeth knocked out or chipped. He looked fu-ugly. It takes her a second to look at who pulled her off of him and she quickly slaps Jack when she sees the smile on his face. "Remind me not to get on your bad side." "You already are you idiot! I thought you were dead! You just collapsed and-Jesus after Kim gets up I'm gonna kill you!" Jack's face falls, the smile quickly erased and Kelsey frowns as well from her position tying Jerry to the chair, as the trio look over to the comatoise girl on the bed. How the fuck do they wake her up?_

* * *

_Jerry is taken out of the room in his little chair, and after being assured that S.O.K.K.O is secure and they've got full control, they begin trying to figure things out...or at least they were trying to when several questions pop into Grace's mind. She wasn't precisely sure why she'd never thought of asking before, maybe because they were fighting or she was stunned that Jerry was the CEO of S.O.K.K.O, but for whatever the reason she'd forgotten. And so now, interrupting their conversation about sleeping beauty, she quickly asks them. "Where's Julie? I got cut off from her on the phone." She says it a lot calmer than she feels and Kelsey nods, replying with a small smile as she rushes to accomodate her. "Sweetie, calm down. Julie is fine. The Kim-bot attacked her and Rudy and I wrestled it off of her before Jack called reinforcements. She's just got a bit of a bump on her head." Grace nodded, feeling a little calmer before addressing the main reason for her mission. "And the Shadow Beast and its master, where are they?" "Right here, darling. And it's Mistress, not Master." _

_Grace turned around startlingly fast, finding a woman creeping out of the darkness and into the light, a long thick skinned cape surrounding her shoulders that growled contentedly as she petted it. 'Ask and ye shall receive,' she thought bitterly as the woman continued walking, the trio standing up from their seats on the floor. "And who are you?" Kelsey growled. The woman smiled snidely, "People call me Mistress...though Jackson, I suppose you could call me Mother seeing as you're in love with my Kimberly." Grace's air suddenly seemed stolen and she was tempted to throw up as the hag grinned. She looked at Jack through her peripheral and nearly laughed at the horrified expression on his face before realizing she was just as horrified. Wasn't this chick supposed to be dead? Rudy said she was dead...didn't he? Jack looked at her, his expression quickly changing to anger. "But you're dead! You died when Kim was a year old!" _

_She laughed, because apparently laughing in extremely weird and irritating situations is a common thing to do. Seriously though, couldn't they stick to being sour-faced and just let them arrest them already. It'd save a lot of time. The woman, Mistress, smiled again, shaking her head. "Oh no Jackson, you see, I'm Kim's __**birth mother**__. But when I went away for a little while to a care home..." Loony bin. "...My sister and her husband took care of her. Then they died and S.O.K.K.O took care of her and sent for me to be removed from my care home..." __**Loony bin!**__ "...They needed the parent's consent to conduct tests on a child incapable of making their own choice. So I agreed and they hired me after seeing my Medical and Science degrees. I've been working here ever since. But my dear friend here, Lamia, has only recently entered my life." Lamia...the word sounded familair. What did it mean though? "Vampire," Kelsey whispered as Mistress nodded. "Yes dear, Lamia means vampire. Congratulations you know a language other than English." "So do you apparently. Tell me __**'Mistress'**__ where did you learn Bitch?" _

_The Mistress' eyebrow quirks up and she smiles tenderly, "Oh I like you. You'll definitely get to be my apprentice." "No thanks." She snarled as Grace mentally 'whooped', pleased that Kelsey wouldn't abandon her. "Quite alright dear. But the position is open should you ever want it-" "Just tell us how to wake Kim up." Grace growled, cutting off her sentence and earnign a hiss from the little pack rabbit on Bitch's back. She hides a snort behind her hand as she walks over to the bed, stroking Kim's pale face with the back of her hand. "It's quite simple really, I'm surprised you haven't thought of it yet. Do any of you remember the story of the twin brothers? One was a lowly peasant on his death sentence for stealing from a prince and his brother came and switched places with him, sparing him and dying himself." Grace frowned, scowling at her before Jack nodded. "Wait, what?" "And I thought brunettes were supposed to be intelligent." Mistress muttered and before Grace could stop herself she refuted, "Well you're a brunette so obviously we're not all intelligent." Kelsey sighed slightly beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Grace...she's telling us that Kim is dying...if we want her to wake up, one of us has to switch places with her..."_


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay! Here we go! Continuing from where we left off: Jack faked being shot, Grace beat the shit out of the guy that shot him and they secured S.O.K.K.O and beat the bad guys. Jerry got carted off tied to a chair and they've met Mistress and Lamia. Mistress offered Kelsey a spot as her apprentice because she likes their banter. Grace got ticked off because all insane people laugh in weird and irritating moments and they've discovered how to wake up Kim who's still comatoise and dying because of an old story about twin boys...**

**Warning: This is short. It's a plot builder.**

* * *

_"Grace...she's telling us that Kim is dying...if we want her to wake up, one of us has to switch places with her..."_

_It took mere minutes for them to decide, or rather, for one of them to decide for them. "I'll do it." There was no sense in arguing, so they all clumped together in a big group hug, Grace telling them how much she loved them and them replying the same. She stepped forward and grabbed onto the cables in Kim's body, slowly releasing them and watching as each monitor faded out, disconnected from the patient and unable to read anything but her shaky hands. She turned to them slowly, pleadingly looking at them. "Don't do this." "I have to. I have to show her that I love her, that I'll do anything for her...I have to do this for her...not just for her, for me. I've had a bad run at life, she can give much more than I can." They all nodded, all equally understanding of the firm resolve that had mounted itself, the determination to sacrifice as she removed the last needle, guiding a chair over to sit beside the bed and carefully moving the equipment as Kim lay there, lifeless. She just had to remove the ventilation tubes, then Kim would be free of all the wires. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. What if this was Mistress' plan? Get them to kill Kim by themselves thinking they'd save her. She looked to the woman beside her that watched the girl in the too big bed lovingly, longingly. She wouldn't. No matter how much of an awful parent she seemed, Mistress loved her daughter, Grace could see that and she could tell that if it wasn't part of her evil plot to be reunited with her daughter, she'd sacrifice for her daughter herself, but Mistress wouldn't, so one of them would. "What will happen...when I do it?" Mistress glanced up from the pale girl in the sheets, looking at them all sparingly with a spark of sympathy and gratitude in her eyes. She really didn't want a young life to go to waste it seemed, but it wasn't a waste, they were doing this for Kim. "She'll gain all the years you would've lived. She'll know what you've done for her and why, she'll remember everything you remember about your relationship together and ultimately, she'll live the way she should, treasuring what you've done for her." They all nodded, sharing another caring glance as tears filled Grace's eyes. She couldn't believe she was doing this. The trio huddled closer to each other as Mistress eyed the one sitting down. This was the time to do it if they wanted Kim to have a chance._

_Needles pricked skin with winces and tears, hands latching on to each other and holding tightly as if it were their last chance, simply because it was. "Will I be able to talk to her before I go?" Mistress nodded as Grace continued putting the needles and tubes on, attaching wires and checking monitors and screens, seeing their readings before moving on, trying to avoid thinking of what was about to happen. "You'll be alive for as long as she would've remained...a few minutes maybe...but you won't be comatoise. Her body suffered a lot of blood loss, that's why she collapsed, so she could heal herself, but you're healthy and fine. You'll be able to talk for a few minutes, but then you'll start to get tired, you'll close your eyes and you'll be gone." Mistress looked a bit forlorn, guilty and Grace supposed it was because she was helping to kill someone else's child to save her own. She could change her mind, just let Kim die, but no mother wants to do that to their child. Grace understood to some extent, and it made her feel slightly better knowing that this sacrifice was to not only help Kim live, but to help Kim live to be a mother to the child Jerry had talked about. This was a sacrifice worth more than any of them. This was dedication of one life to the fulfillment of two. This was doing the right thing. _

_"...Will it hurt?" The words came out cracked slightly, the tears that refused to be shed showing in the voice along with a childlike fear. Will it hurt? Where will they go afterwards? Will they ever see each other again? Each question needed an answer, needed reassurance and for the first time in a long time, Grace missed her mother. She wanted to be held and comforted, she wanted her mother as she faced this. She loved her friends more than life, but at this moment, she just wanted her mommy. She wanted her to hold her and tell her everything would be okay and that they'd see each other again soon, that this wouldn't be the last moment she'd spend together with the people she considered brother and sister. But her mother wasn't here even when she so desperately needed her and it just caused more tears to leak down her cheeks. Mistress took a shuddering breath, seemingly regretting it. Grace could tell she was sad, miserable even that this teen, this __**child**__ was going to die. She could see that she would give anything to change it, but it was too late now, the machines began whirring, supporting a moderately healthy body as a weak one remained dying. She could hear soft whispering and as Mistress reached up to pet the cloak, she realized it was Lamia. It was encouraging her, telling her what to do, __**manipulating her**__. Grace knew this would end badly, that the woman would eventually do something her little partner didn't like, and she'd lose her life to the bloodsucking monster, and at that moment, despite all of her fear and sadness, she felt pity, sympathy for the older woman. "...No...you'll just feel a little pinch and then you'll be sleeping. You'll be safe from all the nightmares, sweetie, you'll be perfectly safe." The only thing left to question was how it would happen, but it seemed the question was suddenly answered as Mistress raised her hand, one over her child and the other over the child in the chair. _

_Black light shone from her hands, seemingly fed to her by Lamia, and in mere seconds, the child in the chair began to slump as the child in the bed shot up, her eyes fluttering and barely opening. As she opened her eyes, surveying the scene, her eyes landed on the chair and one word escaped her lips. _

_"Jack?" _


	18. Chapter 18

**Continuing from where we left off:**

**Somebody chose to sacrifice themselves for Kim, they asked what was going to happen and it turns out Kim will be able to talk to them when they wake up. They think of the sacrifice as good because it's not only a sacrifice for Kim to live, it's for Kim to live to be a mother to the baby Jerry talked about. Anyway, basically, Grace starts fixing everything up while the person that's going to die for Kim asks Mistress questions, Mistress is softening and starting to feel bad when Grace sees/hears Lamia telling Mistress what to do. She predicts that Mistress is gonna get killed by Lamia sometime in the future. So, in the end, after I spend the chapter leading you to believe Grace is sacrificing herself we find out it's actually...**

* * *

_"Jack?"_

_He offers her a smile, a guilty one, a pained one, a miserable one, any kind of emotional smile you can think of that's not positive, he's wearing it. She doesn't know why, she doesn't quite understand what's going on until she looks at his arms, then hers and then back to his and sees all of the tubes missing, the little circles in her skin slowly healing as the wires and needles dig into his flesh, supporting a diminishing body and suddenly she's beside him, on her knees on the floor in front of him, tears trickling down her cheeks as she stares at him blindly. She can barely see him, but she can feel his sad gaze on her and she feels horrible. She's not sure why, but she knows she does. Maybe because it's all her fault, he's doing this for her, he's __**dying for her**__. "Jack, Jack, what's happening? I d-don't understand." She sniffled, grabbing onto both of his hands as Kelsey and Grace backed away. Mistress stepped back into the shadows, disappearing now that her mission was complete, leaving the teens powerless to stop her. _

_"It's okay Kimmy," he said softly, offering her another smile as he gently squeezed her hand. "I'm just a little tired...I'm gonna be sleeping for a little while, that's all." He sounded as though he were comforting a child, a baby who didn't understand death and she supposed that in this moment, she didn't. She loved him, he loved her, that was all down to magic. Magic created their love, their love created magic and their love, __**their**__ magic, should save him. He shouldn't be dying, he should be living just like she was. "It's my fault isn't it? You're dying because of me." The tears seemed endless as she looked down at her knees in despair, blame and self-hate corrupting her mind as her cheeks reddened. How could this happen? What kind of person would do this to her? Who could dare take away her happiness when she'd just found it? "Kim," he cooed, cupping her  
teary face in his hands, "you're the reason I'm still here...the reason my heart beats." She shook her head fiercely, hearing the sound of her own sobs as she stared at him incredulously. "It's not beating anymore Jack. It's dying. __**You're dying.**__" Saying it only made it hurt more, it only made the wound that was already festering inside of her burn with a brighter intensity as it swelled, the pain building in her chest as the realization set in. He was dying. He was __**dying.**__ He was going to leave and never come back. He was going to abandon her, break his late night promises of forever and she wanted to hate him for it. She wanted to hate him with everything that she had, because he was leaving her, because he was hurting her, because it was easier..._

_Jack didn't reply to her statement, he just nodded as he watched his skin grow paler by the second. He wondered if this is how it would've happened when she slipped into a coma. He could imagine it. Her skin just grew paler by the second, her eyes got heavier and her chest felt lighter, her head started feeling dizzier and her focus started slipping until she would've slipped into a coma, a sleep that would turn out to be endless...Would it have been the same as what he was feeling now? Or would it have been different. He wasn't sure, but that pretty much summed up what he was feeling now. Mistress said he'd have a few minutes, but it didn't feel like he'd last much longer, so he had to do this now. "Kimmy..." he whispered, lifting her chin up a bit so he could stare into the depth of her eyes, he brought her face closer to him, giving her a light brushing off his lips against hers before he spoke. "Promise me you won't forget me...because if I thought you would, I'd never leave...but promise me." Kim shook her head defiantly, more sobs and tears escaping her as she looked up at him. "No. No, I won't. Because if I promise you that...Jack you'll be gone. I don't want you to go...I-I don't w-want to be alone again, Jack. Please d-don't l-leave me alone." Her words diminished into sobs, heartstring pulling, gut wrenching, resolve crushing sobs, and Jack found himself regretting. He didn't want to go, he didn't want to leave her...but it was too late, and he wouldn't regret seeing her eyes again, even if they were full of tears. "Kimmy," he muttered, but he couldn't say anything else as he pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her and cradling her gently to his chest. He couldn't promise her he wasn't leaving her, he could feel it that soon he would be, he could feel it that he was fading. He couldn't tell her she wouldn't be alone, because she would be. They'd told each other time and time again, that if they weren't together, they were alone, no matter how many people surrounded them. And now Kim would be alone for good, she'd be by herself until she died and nobody knew when that would be. Jack's destiny was hers as well, only fate could determine what would happen between two destinies in one heart. Only fate could choose the winner. And today, the winner wasn't him._

_"Kimmy, you remember our-our song," he mumbled, his voice barely more than a whisper. He could feel her nod as her tears soaked him, her arms wrapped around him tightly. "C-can you si-sing it to me, p-please..." It was his last request, and as he felt her nod, he felt himself relax, slowly falling into the darkness as her voice lulled him. _

**_"And I'm here...to stay,_**

**_Nothing can seperate us,_**

**_And I know, I'm okay,_**

**_You cradle me gently, wrapped in your arms,_**

**_I'm home..."_**

_A pinch and then he was gone._


	19. Chapter 19

**Continuing from where we left off:**

**Jack and Kim talked as Mistress disappeared into the shadows without anyone noticing, Kelsey and Grace let Jack and Kim have a moment, Kim realized he was dying, emotional stuff happened, she cried, he didn't, she sang to him as his last request and then it happened...**

* * *

**_"And I'm here...to stay,_**

**_Nothing can seperate us,_**

**_And I know, I'm okay,_**

**_You cradle me gently, wrapped in your arms,_**

**_I'm home..."_**

_A pinch and then he was gone._

_She sat there for a while, hugging the lifeless body to her. She'd stopped crying and she was just frozen. She didn't want to leave him like he'd left her. She couldn't. And so when Kelsey and Grace dragged her away, kicking and screaming; crying, she'd fought tooth and nail to get back to him, watching as his body fell to the floor without anything to support it. He just lay there as Kim was dragged away, calling his name desperately-so caught up in her pain that she didn't feel the needle that pressed into her skin, she only saw the darkness._

_*End of Flashback_ **(And a damn long one too)**

Tears had begun spilling down her cheeks again as she stared at Grace sitting opposite her. "He...h-he's _gone?_" She whispered brokenly as Grace sat forward, carefully placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the brunette with the most heartbroken expression Grace had seen, far worse than her own after Jerry's betrayal. Gravely, Grace nodded, showing a sympathetic glance as Kim sniffled slightly. "...And the serum?" "We've got it. We allowed some S.O.K.K.O agents to escape with a fake. When they give it to the President it'll emit a gas that'll make them easier to arrest. We're taking them all in, Kim, we're getting them all." She spoke comforting words but Kim remained numb, untampered in her state of disbelief. Grace could tell this was a fragile moment, and decided not to mention that the Lamia had returned to the Shadow realm with the other beasts after killing Kim's birth mother, (someone Kim had yet to know even existed), but Grace needed her to see something, to know that Jack hadn't broken part of his promise. "Kim...there's someone I'd like you to meet..."

* * *

They entered another area of the tube where all you could hear was sweet silence. It was deathly quiet but there were two teen girls standing huddled over a wooden fence, an older man sitting in the corner. "What are you all looking at?" She whispered. Julie and Kelsey turned to her, their face showing their remorse as they moved slightly, Grace walking forward and bending over the fence which Kim now recognised as a cradle. She picked up a bundle of blankets, holding it carefully in her arms as it stirred. It took a moment for her to realize what it was, but when she did, she gaped. Grace cradled the baby like her mother had shown her before they were seperated and walked over to Kim. She looked up at her and gestured to the baby with her eyes and hesitantly, Kim accepted the bundle into her arms. He looked a few weeks old, but Kim supposed that would be because he was, she'd been unconscious at S.O.K.K.O for that long. He had dirty blonde hair, a good mixture of blonde and brown and when his eyes opened, Kim gaped.

Tears subconsciously filled her eyes and the little baby reached out, pulling at her necklace with his small hands as he smiled a toothless grin, gurgling contentedly when he saw Kim smile back. "Hi baby," she cooed, looking at the deep chocolate brown eyes of Jack's that smiled back at her. Grace stepped forward, gesturing to the baby, before speaking, "We decided to name him Jacob...considering you were unconscious and it was your top ten baby name for a boy." She teased, reminding Kim of the girls' night they'd had at Wasabi. She smiled, seeing how good the name fit and reaching a hand out. Jacob grasped at her finger, holding it in his little hand as he continued to gurgle happily at the sight of his mother. Julie and Kelsey chose those moments to step forward, and Kim slowly handed them Jacob. He pouted, seeing his mother giving him over but quickly smiled at the sight of Julie and Kelsey. "He didn't leave you Kim. Destiny took him away, but destiny gave him right back." Kim nodded, smiling at the girl that was once Jack's sister. "You'll make a great mom." Grace offered with a small smile which quickly grew as Kim yanked her arm, pulling her into a warm hug. "You'll make a great aunt." She whispered in return, eyeing everyone in the room: Julie, Kelsey, Rudy...They were a family. Her family, and they'd be the only family she'd ever want for Jacob, her little man, her heart of living destiny.

* * *

**And that, my pretties...is the end. Yes it's sad...sort of, but it's the end! No more chapters. I'm done, it's finished, it's exactly how I wanted it...sort of. Review, favourite, follow, do whatever you haven't done with this story already EXCEPT hating it. **


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